The Tortured Consort

* “Take it!” On the day he married his secondary consort, he stood tall in his bright red wedding robes, his eyes cold. “Here you are, Sister!” The bride beside him smiled sweetly and held out a cup to her, looking blissfully happy. She took it and drank it in one gulp. The wedding wine burned in her throat, and an unbearable heat and pain flared in her chest. She stood and fled. “Stop!” He refused to let her go. Standing with his hands behind his back, he said, “I still have something to say.” Her body trembled. She clenched her palm, turned around, and said, “Please speak, Your Highness.” His expression remained cold as a letter of divorce fluttered to the ground. “Princess Jing has committed three of the seven grounds for divorce. She is no longer fit to be my princess. I hereby divorce you. From now on, we are strangers.” “You...” She staggered back in shock, her heart turning to ice, yet she smiled. “Thank you, Your Highness, for granting my wish!” With tears in her smile, she turned and stumbled out of sight. The moment she left the room, blood gushed from her mouth, splattering bright red blossoms across the snow-white wall. Only then did she realize that he hadn't merely wanted to strip her of her title as princess. He wanted her dead. Her own death was of no consequence, but the child in her womb was already three months along... She had been an ordinary, unassuming woman, but because her fate was said to bring calamity, she was branded a demon and a harbinger of doom, and lived in loneliness for fourteen years. He was the late emperor's most beloved third son. When the new emperor ascended the throne, he retired with his mother to Bianzhou. Like a tiger fallen onto the plains, he endured as the rivers and stones held their course, losing his realm in silence. Then, overnight, the winds shifted, and he seized control of the empire. After six years of endurance, he reclaimed the realm that had rightfully been his. At his grand wedding, he had his consort executed and crowned the woman he loved as empress. He had both the realm and the beauty in his arms. So why did he always remember a tear-streaked face in the dead of night? This was a Lantern Festival gift to Xiang from Shai Shai, Juan Juan, Xiao Niu, and the others in the group. It's wonderful, so Xiang is sharing it here for anyone who might be interested.* An Xin's new novel, The Guilty Concubine: http://read.xxsy.net/info/242877.html Completed novels: The Contract Mute Wife, a little angst: http://read.xxsy.net/info/188249.html The Crime of the Secondary Consort, a little angst: http://read.xxsy.net/info/162141.html Novels by Guoguo's husband: The Miniature Lady Doctor: http://read.xxsy.net/info/215584.html The Foolish Empress, completed: http://read.xxsy.net/info/182064.html The Millennium Stepmother, completed: http://read.xxsy.net/info/153042.html